Republican News · Thursday 16 May 2002

Sinn Féin challenges Stormont symbols

Sinn Féin Assembly member Conor Murphy has tabled a motion calling for the Assembly Commission to report by October on how symbols and emblems in Stormont will be used in a manner which promotes mutual respect rather than division within the institutions.

"Paragraph 5 of the section in the Good Friday Agreement on Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity states that symbols and emblems should be used in a way that promotes mutual respect rather than division within the new institutions," said Murphy. "Yet four years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement there has been no movement on the creation of a neutral working environment. Parliament Buildings and the Stormont estate as a whole is still dominated by unionist and British symbols.

"Sinn Féin is determined to make the Assembly a place that is not about domination but is about equality and inclusion. Confronting domination and promoting equality and inclusion are vital if we are to challenge sectarianism."